NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 150 - 41. Into a Novel They Criticized. (5)
Upon hearing his words, Fanora’s expression hardened. “Why?”
“You’re already trying to run away because you’re expecting a bad situation.”
“What’s wrong with that!”
“But the war hasn’t even started yet, and above all, I’m a knight. Protecting the kingdom is a natural duty for a knight…”
Fanora was speechless for a while and then hurriedly spoke again. “Carl, forget about honor and duty. No matter what, the kingdom isn’t more important than your life, right?”
However, Fanora was once again cruelly denied.
“It’s important.”
“…”
“As long as there are people in Kasius who need to be protected.”
He nailed it, saying he had no intention of running away alone.
If there’s someone he needs to protect, is it me? Or is he referring to his sister-in-law?
“…”
Fanora remembered the story she heard about his sister-in-law last time, then persuaded him again. “If you’re hesitating because you’re worried about your sister-in-law, I will pay for it. Let’s take her abroad together.”
“Ah, sister-in-law?”
Carl showed interest for a moment when the story of his sister-in-law came out. Although this topic of conversation didn’t last long.
“But before that, I want to ask you something. Lady Fanora has been talking about Gamiel as if you know them so well.”
“That’s…”
“Is the difference in power so severe that my participation or not in the war has no influence?”
As soon as this question came up, Fanora’s mouth shut. She thought she was doomed.
No! It’s the opposite! The war in the future was overturned by the existence of Carl!
But how should she say this? If she says that it’s a war where victory or defeat is determined by his presence or absence, she would be at a disadvantage in persuading him. She choked back her desire to scream and agonized.
“That’s right.”
There wasn’t much time to worry. Fanora eventually blurted out a lie, hoping that he wouldn’t notice.
“What difference will it make if you add one more person? War is a conflict between kingdoms. Still, it’s an obvious result if you think about it a little.”
“…”
“So what I’m saying is, if you don’t want to be needlessly killed, don’t participate.”
This was the best lie she could tell. Fanora said her words with a calm expression, without shaking. Of course, his reaction wasn’t very good.
“I’m sorry, but I’m seeing many more changes than I thought.”
“…!”
“Even if you maintain your posture or facial expression…”
He had a sad look on his face as if he hated seeing Fanora lying.
“Please be honest. Is there any chance of defeating Gamiel?”
“…”
“But why would you lie to keep me from going to the battlefield?”
She turned dark and began to choose what to say.
Then Carl spoke in a bright voice to calm her first. “Don’t worry too much. If a dangerous situation arises, I will run away. Last time, I almost died hiding the holy relic. So now, I’m going to use it right away without letting my guard down.”
“…”
“Have you already forgotten what I have in my hand?”
Normally, she would have felt relieved to hear what he said. If one of the most powerful knights in the kingdom even possessed Ganimede, he would be able to easily shake off most threats and run away.
But why does Carl have Ganimede and yet die on the battlefield in the future?
Nevertheless, Fanora still didn’t brighten her complexion. No, on the contrary, she became even more impatient when she remembered her question related to Ganimede. It seemed like an urgent priority to prevent him from thinking about going to war.
“Come a little closer this way.”
“Ah, yes!”
She agonized for a long time and pulled Carl. The distance soon narrowed enough for them to whisper.
“I’ll tell you. The reason why I’m stopping you from going to war like this.”
She didn’t mean to reveal this to anyone. There was only one option left to stop him.
“Have you ever thought of it strangely until now? How did I know you needed Europe and proposed a deal just in time? I got engaged to the little duke with no money.”
“…”
“Carl, listen carefully. The reason I did all this is.”
This isn’t my first life.
Carl’s eyes widened when such a sentence flowed out of Fanora’s mouth.
* * *
Meeting in the garden of the Marquis’s mansion, they continued their conversation for a while. However, Fanora’s last resort to persuade him came as a shock.
“Is this your second life?”
Fanora finally revealed her secret to Carl, from the fact she killed the nobleman named Haures in her past life, to the fact that she regressed because of that.
There’s no need to talk about the midnight novel.
In order to preserve his trust, unnecessary parts were cut out, but the explanation was still sufficient. Now, all the puzzle pieces fit together.
Carl couldn’t understand why Fanora had targeted Vasago before. Even if Naverius met the princess for the first time in her debutante, she seemed to have a grudge even before that. “So, you got involved with the princess ‘last time’!” Carl nodded as he listened to her explanation.
“Do you understand me now? I’ve already experienced the war that broke out this year. You die in that war.”
“…!”
“Besides, if it was just a normal war, I wouldn’t have stopped you like this.”
Talking in front of him like this reminds her of her past life. Before regressing, she was confined in the capital, so she didn’t know the details of the battlefield. However, even in such conditions, information still flows in.
“It is said that you died in the final battle in a cruel condition.”
“…”
“When you, who had been leading the war, were tragically killed, the morale of Kasius’ army fell to the ground and was in crisis. If only the monarch hadn’t been murdered due to the internal problems within Gamiel…”
“Wait a minute.”
Carl was still listening to the future situation she told him. At some point, Carl started to become obsessed with something strange.
“How did I die?”
“Yes?”
“Do you happen to know in detail what my body was like?”
It didn’t matter that Fanora suddenly identified herself as a regressor. Because he has long been able to tell what he should and shouldn’t believe.
There is a holy relic that deals with time called Europa. So, there must be plenty of cases returning to the past.
Carl had already accepted everything she had said.
“Do you really need to listen to that?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
He believed that she had regressed but asked a strange question.
Even though Fanora frowned, she eventually answered his curiosity. She clearly remembered Carl’s last days because it was featured in the newspaper.
“You, in the future, died from torn limbs. Fellow knights who went into the battlefield together testified to it.”
“!”
“Fortunately, your body wasn’t taken over by the enemy because the marchioness discovered it quickly.”
Carl exclaimed as soon as he heard how he had died. It was a reaction to realizing something. “Ah.”
He was listening to Fanora’s story with a smile all this time. But once he learned what happened in the future, he could no longer manage his facial expression.
“I see. I wasn’t killed at the hands of the enemy in the future…”
“What do you mean?”
If he wasn’t killed by Gamiel, is there really a spy inside?
As she asked back with a nervous face, Carl put his hand around his mouth and spoke carefully. “After hearing your explanation, I understand clearly. I died because I overused the power of holy relic, Lady Fanora.”
“!”
“Do you know what Ganimede’s price is?
Carl said that, bowed down, and rolled up his pants. There was a strange scar on his ankle exposed on the grass. It was a ring-shaped wound as if it marked the seam of a joint.
“Every time I use Ganimede, this part hurts like it’s going to burst.”
“…”
“It’s even written in the literature. Ganimede’s owner, who reaches their limit, eventually dies as their body falls apart.”
“Oh my god, how could it be so horrible.”
“So perhaps the eyewitness of ‘torn limbs’ is probably a less scary explanation…”
He spoke late, trying to show his ankle. Fanora is also the owner of a holy relic, and seeing her in shock made him feel strange about her.
“But why are you so surprised? Io is even more incredible.”
“I beg your pardon…?”
“Di-didn’t you know? I’m actually better off. Io will completely smash you, turn you into power, and die.”
After hearing this story, something struck her. She had experienced similar symptoms before. The day after she wielded the power of Io against his kidnappers, her legs became sore as if about to be broken, and crumbs fell off the surface of her skin.
“Now that I think about it, I think I heard somewhere that they turn into powder…”
Her complexion turned pale as she learned how Io’s owner met their end. She wasn’t afraid of dying without even leaving a proper body behind. However, she was horrified to think that the symptoms she experienced last time would last for the rest of her life.
“From now on, what you have… I hope you don’t use it carelessly.”
“Yes, yes…”
The two realized again that the holy relics were not just useful objects. But this wasn’t the important thing. Carl belatedly returned to the previous topic and tilted his head.
“But there’s something I don’t understand.”
“Which one?”
“Why did my future self die like that?”
In the end, both the future and the past were one person. And the smaller the time difference, the more similar they were bound to be. So, Carl imagined what it would be like to go to war for conquest.
“I tend to use this item very sparingly. I didn’t want to die from abusing holy relic.”
“Yes.”
“And if a war breaks out that I can only win by sacrificing my life, I will just run away. It’s enough if I can evacuate my sister-in-law. I don’t have that much attachment to the kingdom itself.”
“Really?”
“But in the future…”
Fanora felt a sense of incompatibility as he talked slowly. She soon broke the silence. “You died after making such a remarkable contribution that you were said to have turned the tide of war. But to hear you died from the overuse of the holy relic…”
Carl looked into the air and wondered why he had done it in the future. He was able to estimate his lifespan stolen by the holy relic left on his joint. Of course, he must have known the point where he thought, ‘If I use the holy relic anymore, I will die.’
And yet I continued to use Ganimede? Isn’t this an act no different from suicide?
What encouraged him in the future?
This time too, he was able to easily get the right answer. One way or another, in the end, they were the same person.
“
Aha
.”
After a brief moment of consideration, Carl realized everything and shut up. Fanora wanted to hear his explanation right away. However, Carl couldn’t speak for a while, crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side. It was sometime later that he started speaking.
“Lady Fanora, when did Gamiel declare war?”
“Around mid-summer this year.”
“I see.”
What is Carl feeling at this moment? He lifted the corners of his mouth and smiled, but his face looked somewhat empty.
“My sister-in-law passed away this summer.”